The Trump Administration is escalating its war on people of color by undermining Affirmative Action

President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, August 2017. (AP/Evan Vucci)

The Trump Administration is escalating its war on people of color by undermining Affirmative Action

By Connor Maxwell and Sara Garcia

Since its inception, the Trump administration has consistently undermined the work of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which is tasked with protecting historically oppressed groups from discrimination.

This week, The New York Times revealed that the Trump administration is diverting the division’s resources to attack affirmative action efforts nationwide. Under the guise of protecting Asian students, the Trump administration seeks to shield white people from the specter of reverse discrimination and disrupt policies that help people of color gain educational opportunities. If the administration succeeds, countless people of color could face reconstructed barriers to higher education.

Affirmative action plays a critical role in extending educational opportunities to all people of color. For centuries, racial discrimination prevented qualified candidates from enrolling in the nation’s top universities. Now, many universities prioritize diversity and recognize that it benefits all students on campus. Affirmative action’s benefits are made most clear when the effects of banning it are considered. For example, an analysis by FiveThirtyEight found that minority representation is significantly lower in states that have banned affirmative action. Another study estimated that, compared to their peers, under-represented minority students experienced a 23 percentage point decline in the likelihood of public college admission after state affirmative action bans came into effect. Beyond its many benefits (and the risks associated with banning it), academically selective universities and Fortune 500 companies support affirmative action on college campuses.

Despite this clear evidence, opponents of educational equity have laid siege to affirmative action for years. Last year, an anti-affirmative action lawsuit made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the court ruled that race-conscious admissions programs are constitutional. In the court’s decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy underscored the value of diversity, writing for the majority, “A university is in large part defined by those intangible ‘qualities which are incapable of objective measurement but which make for greatness’… Considerable deference is owed to a university in defining those intangible characteristics, like student body diversity, that are central to its identity and educational mission.”

Still, the Supreme Court’s ruling has not prevented the administration from seeking to undermine affirmative action. According to an internal document, the politically charged front office of the Civil Rights Division is recruiting lawyers to investigate and potentially sue universities for implementing programs designed to bolster student diversity. By engaging in such behavior, the administration discards decades of institutional precedent and sends a message that it rejects the notion that deference is owed to a university when it comes to prioritizing diversity.

The Trump administration sought to downplay its actions by stating that it wants to prevent universities from discriminating against Asian students through affirmative action.